New album "Connecting Cultures": music for piano four-hands played by Zhihua Tang and Deborah Moriarty
Music from around the world by Mozart, Dvořák, Falla, Amy Beach, Florence Price; music from China, and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue
On Blue Griffin Records, released November 25, 2022
In a project born out of the performers' desire to connect with other cultures around the world and with one another, the pianists Deborah Moriarty and Zhihua Tang released "Connecting Cultures: Four-hand music from around the world" on Blue Griffin Records November 25, 2022.
Both Moriarty and Tang are on faculty at Michigan State University College of Music and each perform around the world. For this album, they share a piano bench, performing works by Amy Beach, Florence Price, Dvořák, and the Chinese composers Wang Jianzhong and Gong Huahua, alongside familiar favorites Rhapsody in Blue and Mozart's Andante and Five Variations in G major.
Each of the works are drawn from the composers' roots. From spirituals to nursery songs and folk dances, the selection comes from a variety of cultures and promotes female, African American, and Hispanic composers alongside standard repertoire. "Through these pieces it is possible to discern a unified human characteristic that has been poignantly revealed by this pandemic," the duo writes in the album's liner notes. "We all have a keen longing for home and comfort, and for a better united future for humanity. By exploring these human traits, we can express renewed faith in the promise of all cultures coming together to move toward that future on common ground."
Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical CD or digital copy of this recording.
Connecting Cultures
Deborah Moriarty and Zhihuang Tang, piano four-hands
Blue Griffin (DE 3592)
Release date: November 25, 2022
TRACKS
Antonín Leopold Dvořák
[01] Slavonic Dance, Op 46. No. 8 4:36
[02] Slavonic Dance, Op. 72 No. 2 4:49
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
[03] Andante and Five Variations in G major, K. 501 8:03
Wang Jianzhong
[04] Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon 3:20
Gong Huahua
[05] Mountain Harvest 6:49
Manuel de Falla
Two Spanish Dances from La Vida Breve
[06] Spanish Dance No. 1 3:38
[07] Spanish Dance No. 2 4:45
Amy Marcy Cheney Beach
Summer Dreams, Op. 47
[08] The Brownies 3:46
[09] Robin Redbreast 1:42
[10] Twilight 1:45
[11] Katy-dids 1:11
[12] Elfin Tarantelle 1:52
[13] Good Night 2:59
Florence Beatrice Price|
Three Negro Spirituals
[14] I Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray 1:53
[15] Lord I Want to Be a Christian 4:03
[16] Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit 1:32
George Gershwin (arr. Henry Levine)
[17] Rhapsody in Blue 17:31
Zhihua Tang is assistant professor and director of collaborative piano at the Michigan State University College of Music. Tang has enjoyed an active performing career around the world and has been praised for her extraordinary versatility and profound artistry on the piano.
As a concerto soloist, she has performed with Detroit Civic Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, Indiana University Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Ballet Orchestra, and Shanghai Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra. As a recitalist, she has performed extensively across Europe, the United States, and Asia, and has participated in the Aspen Music Festival, Banff Music Festival, and Gilmore Piano Festival.
A native of Shanghai, Tang earned her DMA from Michigan State University College of Music studying with Deborah Moriarty, her master's degree from Indiana University studying with Menahem Pressler and attended the Shanghai Conservatory.
Deborah Moriarty is professor of piano and chair of the piano area at the Michigan State University College of Music, where she is a recipient of the Distinguished Faculty Award.
A Massachusetts native, she made her debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at age 11. She has served on the piano faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music and the University of Lowell. Moriarty attended the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, and the New England Conservatory of Music, where she received her Master of Music degree with honors. A medal winner in the “Concours Debussy,” she is an active recitalist and soloist with orchestras across the country, and has performed in Europe, Asia and South America. Moriarty is a founding member of the Fontana Ensemble of Michigan and has recordings on the Crystal, CRI, Blue Griffin and Centaur labels.
Moriarty is the Artistic Director of the Encore Festival and the “Music in the Hidden Churches” concert series in Todi, Italy. She is co-founder of “Celebrating the Spectrum: A Festival of Music and Life,” an annual summer festival that brings together talented pianists with Autism Spectrum Disorder.